The storm is over...for now.
We are slowly getting back to normal. The second of two storms are over and we were spared in the second storm; we didn't lose the power. Although we have a generator now, the snow storm was not a welcome event given hurricane SANDY was just last Monday the 29th.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank my cousin Lori for helping us out last Wednesday. After the storm passed and the power was out for 3 days, we started to look for generators. As you could imagine, the entire area was also looking for generators. My wife and I decided that it was better to start looking out of state and also see if we could get supplies (milk, bread and also gas for the generator). It seemed hopeless until I thought to call my cousin Lori who lives in Fredricksburg,VA.
Well you're thinking now...why wouldn't he find something closer to home than Fredricksbug, VA. Desperate times called for desperate measures. And I wanted a sure thing.
Let me try to paint the picture for you... We lost power sometime Monday 29th early in the morning, while the winds and rain started to pick up. The sky was a glow from transformers blowing up across town. There was even some bolts of lighting across the sky. As the night went on, I started to listen to the police scanner. I had programmed all of the local police, fire, EMS, and State police frequencies the night before. I have to tell you that I heard some heart wrenching things on the radio that would make you cry. The calls for help were really heart breaking. This went on throughout the night...
Back to the rest of the story...
I got in touch with Lori thru Facebook. As the only device working was my Blackberry (yes...I still have a blackberry ...for all you iPhone and android people out there...I never dropped a call during the storm). And my wired Verizon house phone; it NEVER went out. Even with all of the telephone poles down in the area...I still had a dial tone. I called Lori and we spoke for a few minutes...I explained that everyone was ok. I asked her if they were ok ...and thank god everyone was fine.
I asked if she knew a place we could get a generator? As I explained that it is was pure panic here...the food stores were not open; people were lining up at the Lowe's and Home Depot for generators that might come in. It was getting cold and we didn't know when the power would return. I asked if she wouldn't mind calling around for us to see if there were any generators available to purchase. She was glad to help. After about ten minutes, she called me back "I found you a generator". She said that she didn't bother calling the box stores. She call an equipment supply company. She gave me the number and said give them a call to secure one.
I called Dickerson Equipment and spoke to Robert. I explained that I was calling from NJ and that I was in need of a generator. Robert told me the models he had, the wattage and costs. I said I would take the 7000 watt generator if it would fit into my vehicle. I told him that I would give him my credit card number to pay for the unit so that I would not lose it. Now...in this day and age where a person's word might not be worth anything... Robert told me ... I'm not going to take your card info over the phone...I'm going to tag this unit with your name and phone number....and you have till 5:30pm to come pick it up. Knowing that I was driving 4 hours to get to him; he kindly took this unit out of his inventory and held it for me. Being from the NYC area, I was skeptical but he told me ....I own the company...it will be here when you get here.
I have been to Virginia before...met some great people and had good times there but this wasn't one of those trips.
To my surprise, when we got to Dickerson's, the generator was right there waiting for us. Just as Robert told us, it was tagged with my name and phone number. Robert greeted us and introduced himself. I was very impressed with his business. The showroom was clean; well stocked and his staff was very willing to help. They started the unit, showed me how to care for it and helped put it into the car.
On the way to Dickerson's we noticed that there was a Walmart, Lowe's and several other stores in a large shopping plaza. It was like an outdoor mall, where you just drove your car through the parking lot to get to the different stores. It was something I had not seen before. We stopped at Walmart, which was a super Walmart. It had food, beer and wine and everything we needed to get for stocking up at home. After packing the car with our things, we stopped at Lowe's. My sister needed a generator and they had them. We didn't get it at Dickerson's because she called after we left there. We bought gas cans and some electrical supplies I was going to need and got back on the road.
In Delaware we stopped and filled 6 - 5 gallon gas cans with gas for the generator. Note: this was not a smart idea to drive back with these cans in the back of the Mercedes (I have an R350 which looks like a mini van). The smell almost made me through-up. And its not a safe idea. But we need to know that we would have gas to keep the lights on.
We got home around 11:30 pm from a 10 hour trip. After having a cup of tea to warm me up, I went to work tarrying apart the electrical panel in the garage. We are lucky that its in the garage because it made it easy to find the circuits that I needed to re-wire for the generator. Little did I know that I could have wired the generator to the panel and back fed the panel & used the circuit breakers as the switches for each device. About 1 1/2 hours I had lights, heat, refrigerator and hot water (we have a tankless unit now that requires power to ignite the burner.).
It ain't pretty but it worked!
The power came back Saturday morning (3rd) and I got to work putting the electrical panel back together.
The storm has forever changed the NJ coast line. It's like someone took an eraser and said "OK let's re-draw the coast line" "let's make a new channel here...and wipe out the bridge over there". The pictures and videos are just too upsetting to look at. But the storm has changed my mind about getting a natural gas generator and about stocking supplies in the house. Those doomsday prepper people are all laughing at us right now. And while I won't go to their extremes to prep for a disaster, I am going to start thinking about a plan to be ready for the next event.
For my friends who suffered losses during SANDY and the snow that followed; the material things can be replaced. You're future will be the new memories that you create. Be grateful that you, your family and friends came out of this alive. You will rebuild. New Jersey will rebuild.
So stay warm and dry....and so long for now
We are slowly getting back to normal. The second of two storms are over and we were spared in the second storm; we didn't lose the power. Although we have a generator now, the snow storm was not a welcome event given hurricane SANDY was just last Monday the 29th.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank my cousin Lori for helping us out last Wednesday. After the storm passed and the power was out for 3 days, we started to look for generators. As you could imagine, the entire area was also looking for generators. My wife and I decided that it was better to start looking out of state and also see if we could get supplies (milk, bread and also gas for the generator). It seemed hopeless until I thought to call my cousin Lori who lives in Fredricksburg,VA.
Well you're thinking now...why wouldn't he find something closer to home than Fredricksbug, VA. Desperate times called for desperate measures. And I wanted a sure thing.
Let me try to paint the picture for you... We lost power sometime Monday 29th early in the morning, while the winds and rain started to pick up. The sky was a glow from transformers blowing up across town. There was even some bolts of lighting across the sky. As the night went on, I started to listen to the police scanner. I had programmed all of the local police, fire, EMS, and State police frequencies the night before. I have to tell you that I heard some heart wrenching things on the radio that would make you cry. The calls for help were really heart breaking. This went on throughout the night...
Back to the rest of the story...
I got in touch with Lori thru Facebook. As the only device working was my Blackberry (yes...I still have a blackberry ...for all you iPhone and android people out there...I never dropped a call during the storm). And my wired Verizon house phone; it NEVER went out. Even with all of the telephone poles down in the area...I still had a dial tone. I called Lori and we spoke for a few minutes...I explained that everyone was ok. I asked her if they were ok ...and thank god everyone was fine.
I asked if she knew a place we could get a generator? As I explained that it is was pure panic here...the food stores were not open; people were lining up at the Lowe's and Home Depot for generators that might come in. It was getting cold and we didn't know when the power would return. I asked if she wouldn't mind calling around for us to see if there were any generators available to purchase. She was glad to help. After about ten minutes, she called me back "I found you a generator". She said that she didn't bother calling the box stores. She call an equipment supply company. She gave me the number and said give them a call to secure one.
I called Dickerson Equipment and spoke to Robert. I explained that I was calling from NJ and that I was in need of a generator. Robert told me the models he had, the wattage and costs. I said I would take the 7000 watt generator if it would fit into my vehicle. I told him that I would give him my credit card number to pay for the unit so that I would not lose it. Now...in this day and age where a person's word might not be worth anything... Robert told me ... I'm not going to take your card info over the phone...I'm going to tag this unit with your name and phone number....and you have till 5:30pm to come pick it up. Knowing that I was driving 4 hours to get to him; he kindly took this unit out of his inventory and held it for me. Being from the NYC area, I was skeptical but he told me ....I own the company...it will be here when you get here.
I have been to Virginia before...met some great people and had good times there but this wasn't one of those trips.
To my surprise, when we got to Dickerson's, the generator was right there waiting for us. Just as Robert told us, it was tagged with my name and phone number. Robert greeted us and introduced himself. I was very impressed with his business. The showroom was clean; well stocked and his staff was very willing to help. They started the unit, showed me how to care for it and helped put it into the car.
On the way to Dickerson's we noticed that there was a Walmart, Lowe's and several other stores in a large shopping plaza. It was like an outdoor mall, where you just drove your car through the parking lot to get to the different stores. It was something I had not seen before. We stopped at Walmart, which was a super Walmart. It had food, beer and wine and everything we needed to get for stocking up at home. After packing the car with our things, we stopped at Lowe's. My sister needed a generator and they had them. We didn't get it at Dickerson's because she called after we left there. We bought gas cans and some electrical supplies I was going to need and got back on the road.
In Delaware we stopped and filled 6 - 5 gallon gas cans with gas for the generator. Note: this was not a smart idea to drive back with these cans in the back of the Mercedes (I have an R350 which looks like a mini van). The smell almost made me through-up. And its not a safe idea. But we need to know that we would have gas to keep the lights on.
We got home around 11:30 pm from a 10 hour trip. After having a cup of tea to warm me up, I went to work tarrying apart the electrical panel in the garage. We are lucky that its in the garage because it made it easy to find the circuits that I needed to re-wire for the generator. Little did I know that I could have wired the generator to the panel and back fed the panel & used the circuit breakers as the switches for each device. About 1 1/2 hours I had lights, heat, refrigerator and hot water (we have a tankless unit now that requires power to ignite the burner.).
It ain't pretty but it worked!The power came back Saturday morning (3rd) and I got to work putting the electrical panel back together.
The storm has forever changed the NJ coast line. It's like someone took an eraser and said "OK let's re-draw the coast line" "let's make a new channel here...and wipe out the bridge over there". The pictures and videos are just too upsetting to look at. But the storm has changed my mind about getting a natural gas generator and about stocking supplies in the house. Those doomsday prepper people are all laughing at us right now. And while I won't go to their extremes to prep for a disaster, I am going to start thinking about a plan to be ready for the next event.
For my friends who suffered losses during SANDY and the snow that followed; the material things can be replaced. You're future will be the new memories that you create. Be grateful that you, your family and friends came out of this alive. You will rebuild. New Jersey will rebuild.
So stay warm and dry....and so long for now
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